lucifer sam

From Nicki Pedersen's website: Nicki opens 2008 with splendid victory 09-03-2008 With a perfect seasonopener by winning Pooles Diamond Jubilee, Nicki showed that he is in perfect form for the 2008-season. - Unless my first heat, I felt very good. There were some hard battles, but I think my very good starts meant the difference today, Nicki says. Right before the final, where Nicki beat Andreas Jonsson, Scott Nicholls and Leigh Adams, the four racers decided to split the 60.000 GBP into four equal portions. - I think it was the right decission to make. Now everybody are happy, Nicki says Oh dear. If I were Matt Ford, I'd be very, very angry about this.

Well, when I was looking for somewhere to stand, I could walk up right to the fence on the third and fourth bend - hardly four or five deep. However, there was a decent amount of dirt on the track, and after getting walloped by a large piece of shale, I thought "sod this!!" and walked up the other end, where it WAS four or five deep, but banked and I'm quite tall, so I could still see. No way was there 5000 spectators there (it was 4000 at the maximum) - shame really because Matt Ford deserved a larger crowd after promoting this meetings so heavily. All the best Rob

Sandie - you know and I know that it won't make a bit of difference - SCB will continue to argue that black is white until everyone else gives in All the best Rob

Regarding Heat 17, Crump should not have been penalised the first time. Ebdon held the tapes for a ridiculous amount of time, all the riders were moving and Crump was the unlucky one who touched them. In the re-run, Crump moved very noticeably. It caused Ebdon to delay releasing the tapes, and then Bjarne Pedersen touched them. That one was all Crump's fault. And the 25m handicap is only for riders placed into a race as a tactical off 15m, who are then penalised for moving at the start. There should be no "second" penatly for a rider who began from the tapes - they should be out of the race. Meeting built from a slow start into a nice climax - Heat 18 was the race of the afternoon, with Jonsson, Andersen and Nicholls battling for all 4 laps. Jonsson was the best rider of the afternoon, but Nicki made the most of his second chance in the final. Quite disappointed with the turn-out, given how much Poole had promoted this meeting (something I think they deserve great praise for). There was only 1 row of people stood around the third/fourth bend. I've been to Poole (for a crucial Poole v Oxford league match) where it's been packed around there. I would say today's crowd was somewhere around 3000-3500 as a very rough guess. Really it should have been a capacity 6000 crowd. All the best Rob

Schumi - but I was calling Nicki "The Fence" in an affectionate way. All the best Rob

Rabbit - have you learnt how to spell the Russian's name? And don't forget - it's Nicki "The Fence" Pedersen All the best Rob

Why not have it as the winner of the final GP then? The money should not be awarded for an non-championship race. All the best Rob

Steve - I'll probably make it down sometime during the summer like last year. All the best Rob

Good luck to the Poole promotion with this meeting - it's nice to see a meeting being heavily promoted for once. I can't make it down myself, but I hope the weather stays fine. All the best Rob

Surely this money should go to the actual World Champion or, at the very least, the winner of the final GP, not the winner of a gimmicky extra race which has no bearing on the World Championship at all. Did everything get pissed up at the FIM congress or something? All the best Rob

I hope Poole get a large attendance for this one - the amount of promotion done on this meeting is an example for others to follow. It deserves to be a success. I won't be down myself, but I can imagine a huge crowd in attendance. All the best Rob

Parsloes - who are you kidding, I thought you went to speedway in 1929, hence your BSF name. All the best Rob

Tony - I'm afraid that the memory cheats - I was sure that Ole had got involved in a ruck with another rider at Oxford in 1973. But that was Ivan Mauger, who withdrew from the Oxford v Exeter match, following an ugly incident with Malcolm Ballard after a tapes incident. As for Ole, Steve said: "Wolverhampton were easily sent packing the following week when Ole Olsen, after winning his first race, hit the fence when exiting the second bend in Heat 3, breaking his collarbone and so withdrawing from the meeting." No further details I'm afraid. Not the best year for World Champions at Oxford. Jerzy Sczcakiel, set to triumph later that season in Katowice, went under the safety fence during the Australia vs Poland match and that signalled the end of his participation in the Daily Mirror tournament. All the best Rob

Grachan - on the contrary, it was Oxford who refused Olsen - because they couldn't afford him. The Rebels wanted Dag Lovaas - and evntually got him. It all seems to boil to an incident in 1973. After that, Olsen was hardly ever seen at Oxford again. Must go over Steve Roberts's 1973 review again when I get home - this has the full details of why Ole didn't like Oxford. All the best Rob

Tony - thanks, I'm looking forward to reading this one. I never liked Olsen - something I inherited from the older Oxford fans. He wasn't popular at Oxford even before the Nielsen feud - he didn't like the track and made excuses to miss his meetings at Cowley. But it will be a fascinating read. All the best Rob

SCB, you may have edited your post, but the maths still do not work: 100+55+5+15=175 not 275 All the best Rob

SCB, I would agree - and would point out Jordan Frampton as a perfect example of a lower league rider who rode very well at Brighton this year, even though Kevin Coombes seemed totally oblivious to the fact that Jordan rode for Oxford in addition to Somerest in 2007. To get the fans along from the British tracks, you need riders from British teams. The odd exception such as the massively entertaining Shawn McConnell is alright. And yes, maybe do something slightly different in the afternoon. The Pairs is perhaps a little tired. Maybe a two or four team competition plus the Under 15s in the afternoon, then the individual event at night. And for the night meeting, keep it to 22 races at the maximum, and have a word with the ref to cut down on the number of re-runs - Kennett's numerous reinstatements into Heat 15 were a little ridiculous. He should at least have been reinstalled off a handicap, more chance of the re-run going ahead without a further glitch. All the best Rob

Read the Erik interview last night... very interesting stuff. I don't think Ole Olsen (boo! hiss!) has been the main man yet... Tony, did you manage to interview him as well whilst in Denmark? All the best Rob

That wasn't exactly what I said, but anyhow there has to be an exception that proves the rule. Cheers Schumi. All the best Rob

Schumi - they're not on there, are they? It's just got birthdays, or I am looking in the wrong place? All the best Rob

Is the schedule for the 2008 GP series out yet? All the best Rob

Egon Muller in 1984 and 1985. All the best Rob

Ryan Sullivan - Peterborough 1999, Poole 2004 and Peterborough 2006. Next question! All the best Rob

Hi Paul - here you go: http://subedei.proboards89.com All the best Rob

That's the one I was after - it's the only time that the World No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 have all come from the same nation. All the best Rob